Benefits of Being Part of a Community

I feel very fortunate that StrongStart is a program within elementary schools. And I don't mean be landlords and rent the space but call the program their own.

That the Ministry of Education believed that one way to help families become comfortable and prepared for the entry to school is to offer a free program for families of under 5years old right in the school. Enlarge their community to the early years.

A few of the benefits were obvious in the last couple of days.

Last night was our monthly potluck. An opportunity for the whole family to attend StrongStart, play, read stories and share a meal together. This month we went with the theme "Hawaiian Night".
Our school music teacher and I were talking about learning to play the ukulele, which we are both doing. The teacher mentioned that the school had a set of ukuleles and we were welcome to borrow them (something an early years program can't usually afford).
What fun was had playing music.
And then again this morning - discovering what they are,
learning to hold it,
and discovering it's parts.
Strumming and learning with our grownups.

Also being part of the school means using the whole school.
We buddy up with a grade 3 class to read, play games and share stories.
We use the library and the gym.

Right now for about 3 weeks our school has a turn with the gymnastic equipment. Every day during our gym time we climb, balance, roll, go under, go over, jump, land and run.


We learn to take turns and help each other.

Our school community was also there when one of little ones hurt her arm. The school first aid attendant was right there to check her over. And even later one of the kindergarten parents who is also an Emergency Room nurse reassured the mom that the arm was fine.

These are just a few benefits.

Grocery Store Play and Real

Since we've been back from Christmas break our dramatic play area has been a grocery store including a coffee shop.
Children love to pick items off the shelves, push the buggy and use the cash registers. It's always a busy place.
They made shopping lists and checked the flyers.

And had lots of coffee.


Today we had a fieldtrip to one of our local grocery stores and it was fantastic. They took us behind the scenes.

We started in the produce department and we able to choose a fruit leather to snack while we toured.

The box crusher! It's a favourite.

We had to take a peak to see if the boxes were flat.

We walked down the long hallway that is filled with groceries ready to be shelved.

Then, yay, the truck arrived. Bee, beep, beep it backed in to load up with milk to take to a school.

We saw the produce prep area, the ice cream freezer and the big floor cleaner. We thought it looked like a mini-Zamboni.

Into the bakery area, saw the oven and where the bread is sliced.

This cool machine vacuum packs. Here we put in a mitt and saw how small it became.

The meat cutter and packer.

Then were surprised to see a cake being decorated for us.

We had samples of pepperoni and cheese.

Then to the florist where we were each given a flower.

We ended at the cashier where John, our guide, showed us how the intercom worked.

John gave us each a snack bag, our cake

and we said a big thank you to Quality Foods for a wonderful morning
and for showing us how many jobs there are to run a grocery store.